#68 Stockholm - The Gateway to Scandinavia

Today marks my last week in Sweden. This got me thinking - not only am I leaving Stockholm - I'm leaving behind a great gateway to Europe, or Scandinavia at the very least.

For the 5 months I was in Sweden, I visited six other countries - Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Poland. And not only did I visit these countries, I visited their capital cities and saw the famous landmarks of Helsinki, Oslo, Copenhagen, Tallin, Riga and Warsaw. And I visited Gothenburg and Malmo here in Sweden too.

I'm from Ireland, so these countries aren't very far away. But Ireland is an island to the far West of Europe, and it's not as cheap or easy to get to these places as some of you (especially Americans!) might think.

It cost me only €10 (or €40 for a cabin of 4 people) to get to Finland, Estonia and Latvia using the amazing cruise services from Stockholm. €45 for train tickets to Gothenburg, Oslo and Malmo/Copenhagen. €10 flights to Poland. Now if that isn't cheap, I can't tell you what is.

Some people were visiting places like Spain or Italy, but for me, I could go another time from Ireland and it wouldn't be so much in price difference. But there are plenty of countries you can get to from Sweden so cheaply!

So if you come to Stockholm, you're also getting the opportunity to travel to some great places. They say Stockholm is the Capital of Scandinavia, and although I'm still not sure if I agree, it is definitely the gateway to Scandinavia, and a stepping stone to Europe.

Happy travels my friends!

#46 Riga, Latvia

And now for the final edition of Sue's Nautical Adventures (or is it...?).

So I'm just back from a cruise to Riga, which is the capital city of Latvia. Once again we only had a few hours in Riga, and once again the highlight was the old town! Here are some pictures:

Lido food!

Close up of the cat house

The freedom monument

This is outside a souvenir shop

The food in Riga was really cheap, we got a big meal at a place called Lido in the old town for about €10! We also found a really nice pancake place in the old town too, it was super cheap and although I don't know the name, it has a chef statue with a pancake outside so it can't be that difficult to find!

The old town seemed a little run down in parts (paint peeling on boarded up houses) and I found it wasn't as charming as Tallinn in Estonia.